Belgore: Salute to a distinguished jurist at 80
If one says Kwara State is the pride of the legal profession in Nigeria, factually one will not be exaggerating because it is the state that produced the first Nigerian lawyer from the whole of the northern Nigeria in the person of Abdulganiyu Folorunsho Abdulrasaq, SAN.
The state also produced two presidents of the Court of Appeal in persons of Hon. Justice Mustapha Akanbi and Hon. Justice Ayo lsa Salami, both now retired.
The 10th Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, was from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. It is also worth knowing that the incumbent Emir of Ilorin, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, was serving as a Justice of the Court of Appeal when he resigned to ascend the royal throne.
Also, history has it that there once lived in Ilorin a great jurist, Alkali Yusuf Belgore, who was well versed in Islamic law such that whenever the colonial masters had problems with the knowledge and application of Islamic law, his advice and opinion were usually sought for. He was later appointed a provincial court judge and to be sworn in on 16th November, 1960, unfortunately on 2nd November that year, he passed on to the great beyond.
It was this late great judge and his wife, Hajiya Aishatu Belgore, that on 17th January 1937, gave birth to Hon. Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, the former Chief Justice of Nigeria. The young Belgore was at Okesuna Elementary School between 1945 and 1946 for his primary education and later moved to Ilorin Middle School where he was between 1949 and 1951. In 1952 he proceeded to Ilesha Grammar School for his Secondary School education. The young Belgore left Ilesha Grammar School in 1956.
Contrary to his early desire to read medicine, he later left for London to study law in 1960 and was called to the Utter Bar of the Inner Temple in February 1964. He immediately returned to Nigeria to attend the three months’ courses at the Nigerian Law School and enrolled as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria along with Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN), Shettima Adamu Mukthar Liberty, a former Attorney General of Borno State and Hon. Justice Sunday Akintan, JSC retired among others.
Unlike many judges that privately practised law at the Bar before they were elevated to the bench, SMA Belgore rose through the ranks of judicial hierarchy by joining the bench as Associate Magistrate in July 1964 and by September, same year, he had started sitting alone as a magistrate.
He eventually became Chief Magistrate and Chief Registrar in Kaduna.
On 1st September 1979, his Lordship was elevated to the Court of Appeal where he was until June 26, 1986 when he became a Justice of the Supreme Court and later succeeded Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais as the 10th Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2006.
The years of Justice Belgore on the judicial bench were eventful as his Lordship was deeply involved in several landmark cases that shaped the law and jurisprudence in Nigeria; although his tenure as the Chief Justice of Nigeria was very short but historic. After the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, the country witnessed a series of impeachments of elected political officers in various forms. The one that readily came to mind was that of Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo State who was impeached by the state legislators that were loyal to Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the late strongman of Ibadan politics.
Hon. Justice Belgore while retiring from the bench later, cautioned politicians that “All elected officers are entrusted by the electors with the sacred responsibility of governing well and making laws for good governance so that there will be law and order in the nation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the constitution if the operators manifest loyalty to the nation.”
In laying to rest the controversy on whether a police officer has the right and power to prosecute criminal cases in any superior court of record, Justice Belgore had this to say in the case of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Vs. Osahon (2006) 5 NWLR (Pt. 973) Pgs. 407-408 Paras C-G: “From colonial period up to date, police officers of various ranks have taken up prosecution of criminal cases in magistrate’s and other courts of inferior jurisdiction. They derive their power under S.23 Police Act. But when it comes to superior courts of record, it is desirable, though not compulsory that the prosecuting police officer ought to be legally qualified.
“This is not deleting from provisions of S.174 (1) of the Constitution, rather it maintains age-long practice of superior courts having counsel rather than by persons in most cases prosecuting matters. The confusion that this matter has caused is rather unfortunate for trial of criminal cases; it has caused a disturbingly long delay.
“Previous constitutions before 1979 provided for the post of Director of Public Prosecution, an independent officer, with powers in a statute. The absence of this vital office from subsequent constitutions has created this dilemma...For the foregoing reasons, I allow this appeal and hold that a police officer can prosecute by virtue of S.23 Police Act, S.56 (1) Federal High Court Act and S.174 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.”
In the case of Okike Vs. L.P.D.C (2005) ALL FWLR (Pt. 266) Pg. 1207 Paras D-E, the learned jurist reminds us all that the legal profession is the mother of all professions which must not be allowed to go off the rail when he said: “All through our history from the colonial period to now, the legal profession is a strategic profession that must not be allowed to go off the rail. Law is the mother of all professions; it is a living and constantly producing mother and she must not be allowed to be sick.
This is a clarion call to all the practitioners of law whether at the Bar or on the Bench at this very time when the profession finds itself at crossroad on some recent ugly happenings in our midst that we must all be up and doing to preserve the integrity and dignity of this noble profession.
The ordinary man on the street sees the judiciary as the last hope of the common man and everything must be done to preserve this hope and aspiration because if the members of the profession are found wanting in the discharge of their responsibilities then the hope of the common man in the profession will be adversely affected.
The corruption, whether in the legal profession or in the country at large, must be fought decisively as once pointed out by the distinguished jurist when bowing out of the judiciary.
In the course of his judicial career, Hon. Justice S.M.A. Belgore was assigned other duties of high responsibilities.
In recognition of his meritorious service to the nation his Lordship was conferred with the National Award of Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) and later the Grand Commander of Order of Niger (GCON).
Abdulrasheed Ibrahim is the former Publicity Secretary, NBA Lagos Branch